Why Parables?

Have you noticed that there are so many parables in the Gospels? A parable was certainly Jesus' favorite method of teaching. But why teach in parables?
Once there was a famous rabbi who loved to illustrate a truth by means of a story. One day his students asked him why he adopted this approach. He replied thus: “The best way to answer your question is through a story.”
“There was a time when Truth went around naked and unadorned. But the people shied away from him, and gave him no welcome. So Truth wandered through the land, rebuffed and unwanted.
“One day, very disconsolate, he met Story strolling along happily dressed in a multi-colored robe.”
“‘Truth, why are you so sad?’ Story asked. ‘I’m sad because I am so old and ugly that everybody avoids me,’ Truth replied.  ‘Nonsense!’ laughed Story. ‘That is not why people avoid you. Here, borrow my robe, and see what happens.’”
“So Truth donned Story's multi-colored robe, and lo, everywhere he went, he was welcomed.”
And the rabbi concluded, “The fact is, people are unable to face the naked Truth; they much prefer the Truth disguised. Sometimes the truth can be so painful that we are not able to take it straight. We have to dress it up. We must adorn it. A story makes a bitter truth more palatable.”
In addition to the rabbi’s point, a story makes truth more relatable to our life than a statement. The words of the story are as gentle, as weak, as defenseless as a seed falling into the soil. Yet those words are more effective than the words of the most sophisticated scholars. It can change people’s hearts.
This is a precise reason why Jesus’ words are still relevant to our life.

-Fr. John Kim